The Coconut Dancers, Lancashire

[HelpfulAlex]

So it’s Daily Mail fodder.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10774185/Blackface-Morris-dancers-defy-critics-entertain-crowd-wearing-controversial-make-up.html#comments-10774185

Dancers in black face to represent being in the coals, I have no issue with. Their name, however, ‘The Coconut Dancers’ is massively offensive.

I also feel their name somewhat dilutes any genuine intention to not being offensive to people of colour. I remember at school and people calling others coconuts because they were black on the outside and white on the inside.

I am considering contacting them to suggest they change their name to something which more so represents their coal mining origins (and if it is coconuts then they should change it).

I agree. The name tells me that it was very much a piss take from the start. And, I've heard two stories about how this 'tradition' was started: one, that it was said to represent coalminers but the second, was that poor people blackened their face so that they could dance for money, undetected.

Whatever it is, it is fucked up.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure coalmimers didn't wear the get up that these coconut dancers aww wearing.

Honestly, it really does not surprise me. I will keep the rest of my thoughts to myself..until some white person wants to trip over themselves and tell me how I should feel.. That's always a fab of mine..

Blooming heck.. The typos: are. fab

Good grief, how can that be OK?

I'm from the area and remember them as The Coconutters. Had no idea they were still around!

From Wikipedia about the name -

Their name refers to the wooden nuts worn at their knees, waists and wrists, which are made from the tops of bobbins.[7] They are protective work gear for the hands and knees, essential in mining work involving crawling. The waist nut is a spare in case of breakage or loss of the others. These are tapped together like castanets as a percussive accompaniment to the dance, the nuts on the hands striking the nuts on the waist or knees in an intricate and dextrous rhythm.[8] They wear white turbans with blue plumes, dark jerseys and trews, a white baldric, red and white skirts, white hose and black

Well, I suppose it's tradition.
Like chucking goats off bell towers.
It's probably had its day.

I’m a WW from Lancashire and I think they are a disgrace. There are Morris sides I follow who have fully taken on board the ambiguity that donning blackface can bring and have changed their make up to green etc, so the tradition of hiding who they are can carry on without being seen as racist pricks, which this side undoubtedly are.
Bacup needs to come into the 21st century in many ways. Sophie Lancaster was murdered by hate filled scum there too and while not a racist incident it was a hate incident.
Lancashire towns need to stop supporting racist nonsense like this and I’m sorry this pathetic bollocks still goes on in my area.

@Saucery you don’t need to apologise at all. I’m in the NW and had considered Bacup as an area to live, but I wouldn’t feel welcome.

I just don’t have words as I do believe that they’re hanging their tradition on something which is no longer appropriate.

Thanks @HelpfulAlex . I just wanted to say Not In My Name about this Morris side and associated racism in the area. They don’t represent the true heritage of anyone in Northern mill towns. Unfortunately, many of those areas remain insular and vehemently racist, despite the ways in which their history intersects with black history. That intertwining of histories is worth celebrating, not some made-up codswallop involving coconuts.
Anyway, I’ll bow out now, as I’m aware this BMN and my voice should be minimised on here, but sadly, places like Bacup have a nasty undertone of racism and it will take a lot of work to eradicate that.

And, I've heard two stories about how this 'tradition' was started: one, that it was said to represent coalminers but the second, was that poor people blackened their face so that they could dance for money, undetected

It depends what part of the country the tradition comes from.

Basic Morris Dancing (hobby horse, jester, various characters, bells, sticks, ribbons, country style reels and jigs etc) is really old and universal across the British Isles.

Blacking up was associated with rural areas and night time poaching. See the Waltham Act 1723, also known as the Black Act, which made the crime of being disguised to poach at night, AKA 'going equipped', a capital offence. The theory is that blacking up became part of Morris dancing, during the day at a festival, as a way of mocking what was seen as an unjust law but without the chance of being arrested for it. They are agricultural labourers taunting the lord of the manor type of thing.

Also in coal mining areas, they had their own versions of Morris dancing and also some blacked up. This would be more like a display of solidarity, as these communities were very tight knit and later became very unionised. Miners have always been very proud of the job they do and very much depended on each for safety.